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Panzerschreck
|barrel= |weight= |justweight= |width= |height= |magazine= |cycle= |effective= |range= |usedby= |velocity= }} Panzerschreck (lit. "tank terror") is the colloquial name for the Raketenpanzerbüchse 54 (lit. "anti-tank rocket rifle", abbreviated to RPzB), a reusable Nazi German anti-tank rocket launcher. History In 1943, the German Army required a weapon that could effectively penetrate tank armor as the Panzerbüchse 39s they had been using were considered ineffective; the same could be said about towed field guns which were used for similar purposes. To combat this, a weapon system colloquially known as the Puppchen was developed to serve in this role. At some point during the war, the Nazis managed to get ahold of American M1 bazookas; the bazooka was demonstrated to the Heereswaffenamt in Kummersdorf in 1943 when a demonstration of the Faustpatrone was taking place, with the Heereswaffenamt deciding that a German copy of the bazooka be produced. With the production of the first few examples of this rocket launcher, the advantages of this new launcher over the Puppchen system were evident, including the fact that it could do the same job that the Puppchen could at about a tenth of the latter's weight. Around that time, production of the Puppchen was in full swing; production of the Puppchen was later halted in favor of the new rocket launcher. Upgrades to the Panzerschreck were made over its years of production; production ended in 1945 with 289,151 weapons produced.http://www.bergflak.com/pshistory.html Design Details Essentially an enlarged clone of the American bazooka, the Panzerschreck operates extremely similarly to the bazooka in that it is a breech-loaded rocket launcher. A large electric wire connects from the trigger to the rear of the breech and sends an electric current to fire the rocket: unlike the early Bazookas it was based on, the Panzerschreck is not battery operated, instead having a trigger magneto like the M9. A schutzkranz (lit. "protective ring") is located at the rear of the weapon at the breech. It was usually operated with a team of two; the gunner and a loader, with the latter carrying additional rockets. As mentioned above, the Panzerschreck had many advantages over the Puppchen which was used for a similar purpose; the main advantages of the Panzerschreck was its ability to do the same job that the Puppchen could at about a tenth of the latter's weight. The Panzerschreck wasn't without faults, however; the most apparent being that the solid rocket booster would still be burning after the rocket leaves the tube and would stop burning about later. Due to the rocket booster continuing to burn after the rocket leaves the tube, burning fragments of propellant could hit the operator, leading to a rather unpleasant experience that led to the launcher being nicknamed Ofenrohr ("stove pipe") by its operators. To combat this, the operator had to wear a rather cumbersome outfit consisting of a gas mask, hood and gloves. This issue was somewhat mitigated in later models, where a large, prominent protective shield was added to the left of the weapon: while this did serve to protect the operator, it also made the weapon heavier and sighting more difficult. Similarly, to prevent dirt and gunk from entering the weapon, a schutzbügel (lit. "protective bar") was added to the bottom of the weapon at the front; this could be used as a makeshift monopod if required. Later weapons had different sights as well, with an adjustable rear sight notch and a front sight that could be adjusted based on whatever ammunition was available. Ammunition The Panzerschreck uses the 8,8 cm Raketenpanzerbüchse Granat 4312 (abbr. 8,8 cm RPzB. Gr. 4312) grenade, essentially an 88mm HEAT warhead. The rocket is a shaped charge which is claimed to be able to penetrate just about all tank armor of the time period. Variants ;Raketenpanzerbüchse 43 The first batch of Panzerschrecks produced. ;Raketenpanzerbüchse 54 An improved version of the RPzB 43; early versions appear very similar to the RPzB 43, although later versions include the large shield and other improvements. ;Raketenpanzerbüchse 54/1 An improved version of the RPzB 54; the weapon was notably shorter and lighter than the RPzB 54.http://www.bergflak.com/ps541.html All RPzB 54/1s were converted from RPzB 54s. ;Raketenpanzerbüchse 54/2 An improved version of the RPzB 54/1 that was said to be shorter and lighter than the RPzB 54/1. The weapon did not progress past the prototype stage and none appear to have been produced. ;"Ersatz Raketenpanzerbüchse" An idea suggested by German engineers where versions of the Panzerschreck were to be manufactured out of Prestoff, an extremely tough paper pulp derivative Germany had already used extensively as a substitute for leather, due to a combination of shortage of raw materials nearing the end of the war and a desire to decrease the weight of the steel tube. The use of Prestoff was largely because period fiberglass was much too brittle to be used in this application. The SS-Waffenakademie in Brno was to be responsible for the production of these Panzerschreck''s but they ultimately never left the prototype stage. ;RL-83 Blindicide Colloquially known as the ''Raketenrohr, the RL-83 is an improved derivative of the Panzerschreck produced in Belgium. See also *Bazooka *RL-83 Blindicide *55 S 55 *Panzerfaust References Category:Rocket launchers Category:Anti-tank weapons